Memoirs of a Mad Black Educator by Bobby R Dixon

Author:Bobby R Dixon [Dixon, Bobby R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781499685206
Google: uZ-toQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1499685203
Publisher: On Demand Publishing, LLC-Create Space
Published: 2014-09-11T08:00:00+00:00

Banners

It was a strange parade. I could see banners flying everywhere: “Data-driven,” “No Child Left Behind,” “Accountability,” “Rigor,” “Fidelity,” “High Expectations,” “Teamwork makes the dreamwork,” “Standards,” “Common Core,” and so much more reform and slogans. Such reform had become the norm. These were the battlecries. This was the language, the academic achievement discourse of the new scholastic Nazis, particularly, Dr. Mo’ Money and Dr. Hammerhead.

The “effective teachers” had banners too, banners of themselves! They would be photographed by the district, which would have these photos blown up larger than life and distributed around particular schools and around the city – near parks, bus stops, stadiums, and other venues. They would strike a pose with captions that proclaimed their greatness, “I Am A Great Teacher.” “I Am Great Educator.” “I Am Above and Beyond Expectations.” They celebrated their own power. They celebrated their own madness. They celebrated their own narcissism. I wanted to be on one of those posters. I wanted to be a poster child for education. However, I wanted my poster to read, “I Am A Robot. I Am A Mere Number. I Am The Number 1. I Am Mad.”

During the interview process, Dr. Mo’Money was so arrogant that I was surprised he was chosen as the new superintendent of the Southern System. Before he came, the school system was improving, headed in the right direction. When he was chosen, it was like somebody turned the lights out. The whole educational system was in the dark, yet the “leaders” were proclaiming transparency, improvement, rigor, raised standards, increased graduation rates, campus safety, etc. The True Leaders for True Schools was a separate entity that was in collusion with Dr. Mo’ Money and his entourage. They tried to sell their ideas of innovation to the public. But they never really cared about the public. They were too drunk on control, on absolute fidelity, not to the system, but to “the team.”

They had come, as outsiders, with the idea of superiority. They had descended upon what they thought of as a little backwater town to shape the community into their vision of high performance, not the community’s vision. They thought they knew what was “good for the hood.” These selfish, patronizing lunatics wanted to grab a billion dollar enterprise and do whatever they willed. They consulted everybody but teachers. Teachers were taken out of their equation or definition of success.

Yes, the Dream Team had arrived, and was poised to mold the community into its image. They had all the banners, the fanfare, and the paegantry to make themselves look good.

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